The Investigative Committee to Emilia Slabunova: The Russian Military Historical Society exhumed not 17, but 20 people in the place of mass burial of Stalin’s victims in Sandarmokh, but their identities have not been established
Press Release, 2.12.2020
The Directorate of the Investigative Committee for Karelia admitted that during the so-called expeditions of the Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO), established by Vladimir Putin’s decree and chaired by ex-Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, to the place of mass burial of Stalin’s victims in Sandarmokh the remains of twenty people were exhumed, and not seventeen, as reported previously. This is indicated in the response of the Investigative Committee to the appeal of the deputies of the Legislative Assembly of Karelia from Yabloko – Emilia Slabunova and Ivan Gusev.
The Russian Military Historical Society made two expeditions to Sandarmokh, trying to prove that this mass burial is not a burial place of Stalin’s victims shot in Sandarmokh during Great Terror in 1937-1938, but was a place of burial of prisoners of war – the Red Army soldiers and officers – kept in Finnish concentration camps and killed and buried there in 1941-1944. The legitimacy of the expeditions raised many questions from journalists, human rights activists and historians. Many historians and researchers regard the situation around Sandarmokh as a political campaign by the Russian authorities targeted at silencing or revising the history of Stalin’s reprisals, indicating that the purpose of searching for the remnants of Soviet prisoners of war at the site of the memorial cemetery of Stalin’s victims (when the names of many victims were found out and confirmed) represented shifting the emphasis, replacing and ousting the memory of the state’s terror against its citizens.
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Posted: December 2nd, 2020 under Freedom of Speech, History, Human Rights, Overcoming Stalin's Legacy, The Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of Karelia, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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Political Entropy. Digital Technologies and the Globalisation of Disorder
Grigory Yavlinsky’s website, 1.12.2020
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died …
And everybody knows
And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it’s moving fast …
Leonard Cohen, 1988
The year 2020 is drawing to a close. One can only imagine what will come next. According to Deutsche Bank strategists, the era of globalisation, which has lasted for almost four decades, is coming to an end and will be replaced by the “age of disorder”. Numerous unpredictable events and potential divergent paths lie ahead, and, as they say, no one knows which way we will go. However, even developments today are to a large extent indicative. For example, in public discourse pent-up demand for security is strengthening compared to the desire for freedom. From the state’s perspective, this translates into the tightening of controls, which have clearly been enjoying more public understanding, if not outright support. Tolerance of everyday restrictions and interference in private life has increased, inter alia, amongst the higher strata of society. This may also be true of political restrictions.
The value of the inviolability of private life is being degraded in line with the manipulation of individual interests and requirements which are being created artificially: this is a new trend which would appear to be here for the long haul. And all this is happening against a surge in populism: political systems appear unable to consolidate to block populist politicians, whereas the ability of the traditional elite to retain their role as a politically responsible class has weakened significantly.
POLITICAL ENTROPY
Digital technologies and the globalisation of disorder
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Posted: December 1st, 2020 under Economy, Elections, Foreign policy, Governance, Human Rights, Politics, Russia-Eu relations, Russia-US Relations, Без рубрики.
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Irina Antonova opened borders and names. Nikolay Rybakov in memory of the President of the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum
Condolences by Nikolai Rybakov, 1.12.2020
On 1 December, Irina Antonova, President of the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum passed away at the age of 98. She would have turned 99 in March. Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov expresses condolences on behalf of the party and himself:
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Posted: December 1st, 2020 under Condolences.
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Murino will become the first city in the Leningrad region with a design code for city development
Press Release, 30.11.2020
The first design code in the Leningrad Region that will change the look of the city will be developed in the city of Murino, which borders on St. Petersburg. This was announced on 26 November by Dmitry Kuzmin, head of the Murino urban settlement and a member of the Yabloko party, during the launch of the project.
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Posted: November 30th, 2020 under Elections, Environmental Policies, Protection of Environment, Regional and Local Elections, Regional and Local Elections 2019, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.
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The Yabloko Party University will host a lecture by Emilia Slabunova on the Russian school
Press Release, 30.11.2020
On Thursday, December 3, the Yabloko Party University will hold a Zoom-lecture by ex-Chair of Yabloko Emilia Slabunova on “The Russian School: Between the Past and the Future”. The lecture will start at 19:00.
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Posted: November 30th, 2020 under Conferences and Seminars, Education and Science, Social Policies.
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Lev Shlosberg: the federal policies of interbudgetary relations remain repressive
Press Release, 27.11.2020
Photo: Deputies of the Pskov Regional Assembly in the first reading adopted the draft regional budget for 2021 and for the planning period of 2022 and 2023 / Photo by the Press Service of the Pskov region Administration
Pskov parliamentarians considered in the first reading the draft budget of the region for 2021. Lev Shlosberg, deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly from Yabloko, noted the excessive dependence of the regional budget on the federal Russian budget, and also drew attention to a twofold decrease in the planned non-repayable receipts from the federal budget to the regional budget compared to the current year, the state debt of almost 19 billion roubles by 80 per cent comprised of loans from commercial banks, and the desire of the regional administration to overestimate the region’s own revenues in order to artificially lower the budget deficit figure.
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Posted: November 28th, 2020 under Economy, Russian Economy, The Yabloko Faction in the Pskov Regional Assembly, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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The Tula branch of Yabloko submitted its candidates to 11 territorial electoral commissions of the region
Press Release, 27.11.2020
The Tula branch of Yabloko submitted candidacies of the party representiatives to the key eleven territorial electoral commissions of the region. The respective electoral commissions cover 75 per cent of the population of the Tula region. Within a month, the regional electoral commission should complete the formation of electoral commissions.
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Posted: November 27th, 2020 under Elections, Regional and Local Elections, Regional and Local Elections 2021, Без рубрики.
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Yabloko Gender Faction hosted international conference “Situation with Protection of Women’s Rights in the situation of COVID lockdowns. International Experience”
Press Release, 27.11.2020
On 24 November, on the threashold of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November) and the launch of this year’s international campaign “16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence” Yabloko Gender Faction conducted international on-line conference “Situation with Protection of Women’s Rights in the situation of COVID lockdowns. International Experience”. The conference was held on the Zoom platform.
Nikolai Rybakov, Chairman of the Yabloko party, opened the conference. The conference moderators were Olga Radayeva, lawyer and First Deputy Chair of the Gender Faction of Yabloko, and Galina Mikhaleva, Professor of the Russian State Humanities University and Chair of the Gender Faction of the Yabloko party.
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Posted: November 27th, 2020 under Conferences and Seminars, Gender Faction, Human Rights.
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The Yabloko party demanded from Prime Minister Mishustin not to cut payments to medical workers
Press Release, 26.11.2020
Chairman of the Yabloko Party Nikolai Rybakov sent an appeal to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, in which he urges the head of government to amend Decree No. 1762 on the state measures of social support and to increase payments to health workers in the situation of the COVID pandemic, as well as to extend payments to support staff of medical instituations.
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Posted: November 26th, 2020 under Healthcare, Social Policies.
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After Yabloko’s appeal, 26 regions lifted restrictions on street actions
Press Release, 26.11.2020
Photo: Vladimir Dorokhov, Chairman of the Tula branch of Yabloko, at a picket against the amendments to the Constitution, on 23 June, 2020
A year after Yabloko’s appeal to the Public Prosecutor’s Offices of 43 Russian Federation subjects with a demand to bring regional laws on rallies in line with the Constitution, the necessary amendments were adopted in 26 regions.
In 2019, the Constitutional Court adopted a resolution that effectively prohibited the regional authorities from turning down the requests of the organisers of public events [on a getting a permission to conduct such events] referring to the proximity of actions to government buildings, interferance with transport or hindering access to social institutions.
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Posted: November 26th, 2020 under Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Governance, Human Rights, Judiciary, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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Professionalism Versus Insanity
Statement on the resumption of the activities of the Public Constitutional Council
Novaya Gazeta, 25.11.2020
The Public Constitutional Council, which we established in January 2020 in response to the President’s initiative to amend the Constitution of the Russian Federation, warned at the same time that the adoption of the proposed amendments to the Basic Law of the country would lead to further “resetting to zero” of all public institutions.
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Posted: November 26th, 2020 under Constitutional Amendments, Governance, Human Rights, Judiciary.
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The St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko demands that Governor Beglov stops the attempts to deprive opposition municipal deputies of their mandates
Press Release, 25.11.2020
Photo: Anna Karulicheva, municipal deputy from Yabloko, St.Peterburg
Yekaterina Kuznetsova, Chair the St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko, issued a statement demanding from Governor Alexander Beglov to stop the attempts to deprive Yabloko municipal deputy Anna Karulicheva of her mandate in the Narvsky District Municipality.
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Posted: November 25th, 2020 under Elections, Regional and Local Elections, Regional and Local Elections 2019, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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An honest and throb-hearted journalist. Lydia Grafova passed away
Condolences from Nikolai Rybakov, 23.11.2020
On 23 November, the famous journalist and human rights activist Lidia Ivanovna Grafova passed away at the age of 83. Lidia Ivanovna collaborated with Yabloko in the protection of migrants’ rights. In 2016, she became the party’s accredited agent in the elections to the State Duma, and in 2018 she was the accredited agent of presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky. Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov exressed his condolences:
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Posted: November 25th, 2020 under Condolences.
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Candidates from Yabloko came second and third in the by-elections to the City Duma of Yekaterinburg
The elections were accompanied by massive early voting, vote-buying and low turnout
Press Release, 23.11.2020
Vladislav Postnikov, Yabloko’s candidate in the by-election to the City Duma of Yekaterinburg in single-mandate constituency No. 3, came second (20.8% versus 28% for the United Russia candidate). Potnikov won among voters who voted on the election day. Dmitry Trynov, candidate for constituency No.9 came third, receiving 14.5% of the votes.
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Posted: November 25th, 2020 under Elections, Regional and Local Elections, Regional and Local Elections 2020, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.
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Trump wins even in defeat
On the prospects for Trumpism and the threat of fascism
Grigory Yavlinsky’s website, 23.11.2020
Donald Trump and Joe Biden, 2020 Presidential Debate
Virtually the whole world has congratulated Joe Biden on winning the US presidential elections. The regime in Russia is upset and taken aback. It has been rumoured that the powers-that-be will congratulate Biden on his victory after the approval of the final results, which will only be declared officially in January 2021. Once again the political strategy adopted by Russia’s leadership looks strange and differs unfavourably compared to global trends. However, it is clear that Joe Biden won, as demonstrated by all reliable evidence.
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Posted: November 23rd, 2020 under Foreign policy, Russia-US Relations.
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The Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Anti-Corruption Policy Centre: officials in Dzerzhinsk ordered a lease for 5.5 million roubles. Two Kia Optima will cost the budget 1.5 times the market price
Press Release, 23.11.2020
Oleg Rodin, Chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of Yabloko and Director of the regional branch of the Anti-Corruption Policy Centre, appealed to the Control and Audit Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Nizhny Novgorod Region demanding to check the reasonabless of the purchase at the indicated price of car rental for officials of the Dzerzhinsk city administration and bring the officials representing the customer to justice.
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Posted: November 23rd, 2020 under YABLOKO against Corruption, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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The Saratov branch of Yabloko initiated a collective statement on the inadmissibility of canceling the mixed system in municipal elections
Press Release, 20.11.2020
The Saratov branch of Yabloko held a round table and invited to it all the registered political parties of the Saratov region.
Following the meeting, which was attended by representatives of the parties A Just Russia, Parnas, Russian National Union, as well as the all-Russian movement #Changes, a statement was adopted demanding from the regional parliament to revoke the scandalous bill envisaging abolition the mixed system for elections to regional bodies of local self-government.
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Posted: November 21st, 2020 under Constitutional Amendments, Elections, Governance, Political Parties, Regional and Local Elections, Regional and Local Elections 2021, YABLOKO Against the Parties of Power, YABLOKO and Other Political Parties, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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The Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko calls on the regional government to open data on the causes of excess mortality in the region
Press Release, 19.11.2020
Yaroslav Shcherbakov, Chairman of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko, sent an inquiry to the regional Ministry of Healthcare demanding to open data on the reasons for the increase in mortality in 2020.
The analysis of open data of Rosstat (the Russian statistical agency) in the Chelyabinsk region shows that 2,043 more deaths were registered in the nine months of 2020 compared to same period of 2019. The excess mortality in relation to the average mortality for the past three years amounted to 1,872 cases (34,499 in 2017, 34,739 in 2018, and 34,362 in 2019).
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Posted: November 20th, 2020 under Economy, Healthcare, Human Rights, Social Policies, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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Tatyana Nagibina: In the midst of the pandemic in Omsk, the regional administration bought new cars for officials
Tatyana Nagibina blog post, 19.11.2020
What a “happiness” it is to live in the Omsk region, as our “achievements” put us ahead of all Russian regions. How our officials love to excel!
Our officials do not cease to amaze us with their ideas on how to help themselves, come up with something so that to improve their already “comfortable” situation, and all this in a most difficult period for the region and the country. After all, right now there is an urgent need to find money to fight the epidemic. Right now, during the pandemic, when it is necessary to reduce unreasonably high salaries for themselves, or at least consider the option of a temporary cut in established salaries, when the ordinary people are sometimes left without a livelihood, and because of this someone who is sick is forced to go to work, infecting others at work and in public transport, how to survive when the prices of medicines and foodstuffs have been rising, despite the fact that the main goal should be to save the lives of the population, it was our Omsk officials who took care of their income and decided to raise their salaries. The governor signed two decrees related to the increase in the salaries of regional officials.
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Posted: November 19th, 2020 under Elections, Healthcare, Regional policies and Local Self-Governing, Social Policies, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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Officials of the Dubna district fulfilled the demand of the Tula branch of Yabloko: the tender for the purchase of an expensive car is canceled
Press Release, 18.11.2020
The administration of the Dubna district of the Tula region fulfilled the demand of the Tula branch of Yabloko and cancelled the tender for the purchase of an expensive car for the needs of the administration. The corresponding entry appeared on the state procurement portal. This happened after the Tula branch of Yabloko demanded that the administration refuse the expensive purchase.
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Posted: November 19th, 2020 under Elections, Regional and Local Elections, Regional policies and Local Self-Governing, YABLOKO against Corruption, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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